Rain of Imperfection
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Temari finds herself glad their father's funeral is postponed due to the seasonal monsoon. Like herself, Kankuro feels no reason to weep for the old man. The person who cares though is the one everyone least expects, and the storm outside mirrors the storm inside. (Fanfic Friday)


_Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. This was written for the eighteenth Fanfic Friday contest over on Wattpad. The goal was to write a story in five-thousand words or less, where your favorite fictional characters are stuck inside. I choose the sand-sibs for this one. I also decided to focus on the subject of autism in this one, as Gaara throughout the series shows signs of being on the autism spectrum, high functioning that is._

 **Rain of Imperfections**

Rain couldn't wash the pain away.

Temari's teal eyes watched the rain pour down the window pain while she leaned up against the wall taking in everything which occurred over the last few months. The sudden monsoon did nothing to erase the painful feelings crashing around in her mind, but the yearly rain storm still hit Suna at just the right time. The funeral for the forth Kazekage ended up postponed, and thus no lectures about showing appropriate empathy for the man's death would come her way.

" _I hate him._ " Temari's mouth pressed together tightly. " _Wish I didn't have to wear mourning clothes for him, but it's an obligatory social custom._ " Her hands and teeth clenched together. " _The man never acted like a real father, so why should I care that he's dead?_ "

The sound of the rain outside mingled with the sound of Kankuro fiddling with his puppets. His melodic voice made her head jolt slightly away from the window, and the downpour outside. "You know, you shouldn't beat yourself up over this."

"What are you talking about?"

"The fact neither one of us give a crap that man is dead." Kankuro's words came out with ease, as if he thought the whole thing through, but in reality he likely didn't think of the situation at all.

"Except we're expected to care, as we're his children. The only one they don't expect to care that he's dead is Gaara." Temari turned her head to fully look at her brother, and noticed that while he'd adorned the necessary black clothes for mourning, the young man still wore his cat eared cowl, and his face was still adorned with the purple makeup. " _Gaara's the only one the expect to not care, as Gaara's..._ " The female ninja turned her head back to the window, her throat tightening. " _That's why I'm angry._ "

The pain simply wouldn't go away with the down pouring rain.

" _Do I though really want to let go of my anger like that?_ " Temari shuffled her feet, and let out a sigh. She felt nothing regarding the fact their father had died, and felt better now that the man no longer had his hands constantly wrapped around their throats, making them fear what would happen should they fail. What she felt was anger towards the fact the man never treated them like children, but instead always acted like the villages Kazekage, treating his own as pawns.

The worst case among the three was Gaara. The village expected only Gaara to show no emotion regarding their father's death, and that was because everyone in Suna came to think of the twelve year old as an emotionless psychopath who only thought of himself. In fact, Temari had the sickening feeling most of Suna would rather Gaara didn't show up at the funeral at all.

"Speaking of Gaara..." Temari's teal eyes scanned the room looking for the younger brother, a worry pounding in her chest. "Have you seen him?"

"Nope, and I don't care."

Heat from the sudden surge of anger rushed to her cheeks. "Excuse me?"

"Gaara can take care of himself. I'm not going to interfere with what he wants to do. It's not that I still fear getting killed by him, but that I don't see the point of doing anything, not unless he's like, I don't know. I can't think of a situation where I would need to boss him around, as I don't think he wants to go around killing things anymore, and that's really the only time I ever tried to boss him around."

"Boys!" Temari folded her arms across her chest, and the words felt sharp upon her tongue.

"Hey? What's that supposed to mean?"

The eldest of the siblings turned to chew out the eldest of her brothers, only for the sound of the door opening, and rain pouring in to be heard. Temari's head turned quickly to the entrance as the door slammed shut, only to see a rather bedraggled Gaara stepping into the room without his gourd of sand on his back. The boy looked at the ground where water dripped down on the floor, and his skin looked paler then usual. A rather guilty look flickered across the boy's eyes, something that wouldn't have occurred prior to the chunin exams.

Temari let out a sigh of relief, and pushed herself away from the wall. She crossed her arms across her chest, and let a smile flicker across her face. "Gaara, where is your sand?"

"Wet..." The preteen spoke in a low voice. "Heavy..."

"I see." Temari stepped over to her youngest brother. " _So it's not so easy for him to control his sand if it gets wet._ " Her hands clapped down onto the preteen's shoulders. "I want you to change out of those wet clothes Gaara." She watched as the red head opened his mouth to protest. "No butts. I don't want you getting sick."

"He can't get sick Temari. He's a jinruchi. Let him do what he wants."

"Ignore Kankuro, Gaara. Those wet clothes can't be very comfortable, can they? You must also be cold."

The red haired preteen reached a hand up to rub his neck uncomfortably, the experience of his sister showing affection to him being a new, and baffling experience. His mind seemed distracted by something, and words came blurting out of his mouth. "Temari, Kankuro, what are you wearing?"

"Hmm..." Kankuro's tone of voice showed amusement at Gaara's comment, but he declined to answer.

"These? These are mourning clothes, something a person wears when someone dies." Temari watched Gaara's eyes drift to the side, and her mouth twisted down into a frown. "That's right. You don't have any mourning clothes. Still, let's focus on the fact I'd like you to get changed, so you're nice and warm. Do this for your big sis, alright? Come back and I'll do something about that wet hair of yours, okay?"

Gaara didn't respond, and simply sloshed down the hallway with his shoes on, making Temari sigh at her younger brother's lack of understanding in how the world worked. " _I can explain the fact you're supposed to take off your shoes, and leave them at the door later._ "

The teenaged female headed to the bathroom, and pulled out her hairdrier. A smile flickered across her face realizing that the pain she felt earlier left as soon as she started taking care of her younger brother. She headed back to the main living area, but stopped short in front of their father's room. The light was on, and she wondered who would be out burglarizing the deceased Lord Kazekage's room in that particular type of weather.

She opened the door slowly, and noticed contents strewn all over the place. Her teal eyes then picked up Gaara's wet clothes on the floor, and she stepped farther in, and turned her head slightly upon realizing her younger brother was changing. Her eyes drifted over to the rain pouring down the windowpane, and pushed her lips together. " _I'm glad that man's not around anymore. He'd be giving Gaara living hell for messing up his room, and I wouldn't be able to act like a big sis._ "

The sound of someone stepping backwards quickly made Temari turn her head to see Gaara tripping over the pant leg of the clothing he picked out for himself, and she winced when she saw the preteen hit his head on the edge of the bed. "Are you alright Gaara?"

"I think so."

Temari walked over, and leaned over him. A smile fluttered across her face at the tangled mess. "So, what are you doing."

"I changed clothes like you wanted."

"I see that. You're in father's clothes though." Temari swallowed suddenly. " _What kind of mood is he in?_ "

"They're mourning clothes." Gaara looked up at her with his sea foam green eyes, and his mouth pushed together as he looked for acknowledgment that he'd done the right thing. "That is the appropriate thing to do, right?"

The smile reappeared on her face, and she held her hand down to her younger brother. "Yeah, that is. You should have told me that you were going to put on..." Temari stopped short as she almost said the word father. "... his clothes. I could have helped you do something, as they are rather big on you." She pushed Gaara gently so he stood in front of her, and she behind him. Her fingers worked at tying off the clothing so it would no longer trip him. "There, all done. Let's go to the living room so I can do something about your hair like promised."

She placed a hand between her younger brother's shoulder blades, and gently gave him a push to get moving. Gaara sat down in front of the table waiting for her, and she sat behind, plugging in the blow dryer as she did so. She turned on the piece of technology, and let the warm air blow through his air. She ran her fingers through his hair as it dried, and her eyes caught out of the corner of her eye the rain pouring down the windowpane. "Your hair's actually pretty soft."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Yeah, it is." The sound of Kankuro fiddling at his puppets stopped, but Temari payed the eldest of her two brothers no mind, as she found herself enjoying the act of tacking care of Gaara. " _I rather enjoy acting like a parent to him._ "

"Hey, Temari..."

The eldest of the three siblings looked up. "What is it?"

"Is that the old man's clothes he's wearing?"

"Just a bit ago you were talking about how it's best to let Gaara do what he wishes, were you not." Temari smirked at Kankuro, watching the teen's face wrinkle up in frustration.

"But why?"

"Temari says this is the proper thing to do."

"Oh, so you're trying to copy us."

Temari's teal eyes narrowed, and Kankuro winched at the death glare she gave him. " _Seriously. He's not just trying to copy us Kankuro. He's trying to be normal._ " She finished drying Gaara's hair, and let out a sigh before blowing on the soft locks. "All done." She moved to another side of the table, and watched her younger brother hoping for another moment where something would click for him. Instead a frown spread across his face, and he flopped backwards. "Something wrong Gaara?"

"Is he really gone?"

Both siblings froze at said statement, and then they looked at each other. Kankuro's voice strained. "What do you mean?"

"I went to see him." Gaara's arms flailed to the sides, and his sea foam eyes looked up at the ceiling.

"Him?" Temari frowned. "Do you mean you went to the funeral home?"

"Yes." Gaara's facial features twisted up. "It wasn't him."

Kankuro reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Gaara..."

"Yes."

"You do remember what Baki told us? His face was disfigured." The eldest of Temari's two brother's attempted to clear his throat as he spoke.

Even she agreed the conversation wasn't going to a place even she liked to see it go. Gaara though remained insistent. "No, it wasn't him."

"It was him Gaara." Temari's lips pushed together, wondering why her youngest brother acted the way he was.

Two sea foam eyes blinked a couple of times, before turning to look at Kankuro. "Fix him?"

"What?" The eldest of her two brother's blinked a couple of times, and his face melted into utter surprise.

"Like you do your puppets."

"Gaara..." Kankuro's throat visibly bobbed down in his attempt to brush away how uncomfortable the subject got."I can't. He's gone for good." The youngest simply looked up at the ceiling, his face remaining emotionless, but then his older brother said the wrong thing. "I thought you'd be glad he's gone."

The red haired preteen's facial features twisted up as if he were going to be physically ill, and Temari moved over so she sat right beside him. His hand reached up to clutch his heart, and he looked like he could break at any minute, much in the same manner the monsoon broke without anyone expecting it to. "Are you all right?"

"No. It hurts. Make it go away."

Realization hit Temari in her stomach hard, and one hand reached out to take her younger brothers free hand. "Gaara, I'm sorry, but I can't. I think you already know that, don't you." She then tugged at the hand in hers, and pulled him up. "Come here though." Temari felt relief when he let her pull him into her lap, and she rested her chin upon his soft head of hair which was still warm from the blow drying. Gaara leaned in close, and she had the feeling he didn't know what to do. " _Poor child._ "

"Temari..." The sound of Kankuro's voice made Temari's teal eyes dart up, and she saw the look of worry on his face. A death glare quickly silenced any question he had planned on asking.

One hand reached up to rest in between Gaara's shoulders, and the other on the back of his head. She let his head rest against her chest. "Are you wanting to cry Gaara?" A glance down at the boy told her he was struggling with what to say. " _Maybe he's wondering if it's alright to cry._ " Temari let the corners of her mouth twist up. "Hey, if it's in front of just me, or Kankuro, it's alright to cry. We're your older siblings after all, and it's our job to take care of you. Right?"

"Yeah..." Kankuro's voice sounded shaky, and almost unsure.

A smirk however appeared on her face. " _He certainly doesn't like his masculinity questioned, does he? Well, get used to the fact our little brother is different from other people, because I'm going to let him be who he wants to be, or at least let him have these small moments when I can._ "

Temari felt Gaara twist around so his face buried into her shoulder, and soon the sobs came. One hand rubbed his back, and the other rested on the top of his head. Only she could see the discomfort plastered on her other brother's face, and she found it quite amusing. Kankuro mouthed something to her. " _This is bad. Really bad._ "

The smirk increased, and she mouthed back, " _you let him be._ "

A knock came at the door, and the two looked up. Gaara wasn't phased by the action, almost as if his sobs drowned out the sound. Temari's mouth twisted into a frown. " _His sobbing's gotten pretty bad_."

Kankuro stood up, and spoke in an annoyed tone. "I'll get it. You continue taking care of Gaara."

Temari began to hum a tune she remembered from her childhood, and felt relief when her younger brother's sobs softened. The door opened, and more rain came in. Someone of course came in, and Kankuro's voice sounded nervous. "Sensei..."

"Have the three of you eaten yet."

"It's not..." The eldest of Temari's two brother's strained as he tried letting Baki know something was wrong. "This isn't a good time."

"I'm not leaving Kankuro. There's something I need to talk to you three about, sooner rather then later."

"Yes, but..."

Temari's grip on Gaara tightened in a protective manner, and she felt Gaara's sobs subside. The preteen remained attached to her, his hands clutching onto her clothing for dear life as he continued to sit in her lap. Baki stepped into the room, a few bags hanging from his hand, while he dripped water onto the ground. His eyes though darted over to where Temari and Gaara sat. No lecture came from the man, and instead he simply said. "I'll be staying to eat with you three, so is it all right if I use your bathroom to change into dry clothes I brought."

"I'll show you where it is."

"I already know. This isn't the first time I've been to the..." Baki stopped short at saying the words _Lord Kazekage._ The man handed Kankuro the food. "You'll also want to reheat the food, Kankuro."

The teen sighed, and a hand reached up to rub his head as Baki disappeared. "Seriously, this is the last thing we need."

Gaara let go of Temari's clothing, and turned around to sit in her lap. He remained there, allowing her to wrap her arms around him. Kankuro headed into the kitchen grumbling as he did. Baki came back first, and he sat down across from Temari. "I do apologize, but this isn't something that can wait."

" _On a night that is like this?"_ Something else bothered her, and she loosened one arm from around Gaara, so she could point at her brother. "This doesn't bother you sensei."

"A little, but that's because..." Baki took a deep breath. "It's certainly not something I'd have ever expected to see, and I'll leave it at that." The man though didn't leave it at that, and said something to Gaara specifically. "You lost something precious to you, didn't you Gaara?" Temari felt like socking the man despite his seniority, and her arm wrapped protectively around the boy again. Their sensei however continued. "Do you understand now what that man meant? About someone being precious to him?"

Temari's eyes widened, realizing the reasoning behind the question wasn't to make a snipe at Gaara, and his current vulnerability. Her brother remained silent for a few minutes, and then spoke as Kankuro brought the reheated food. "Yes. I think I understand."

"Understand what?"

The eldest of the siblings sucked her cheeks in, worried that Kankuro might say the wrong thing again. "About precious things."

Kankuro flopped to the ground, and let the trey he carried drop to the table. "Gaara..."

"Don't..." Temari's voice strained, knowing where the older of her two brother's was going with the situation.

"No. I have to." Kankuro took a deep breath, and then slammed his fist down onto the table. "How the hell can you call that jerk someone precious to you, when he never once thought you were precious to him!"

"I don't know." Gaara's comment made a silence fill the room. Baki ignored the atmosphere, and began to dish out food from the trey.

" _How come neither one of them can read the situation?_ " Now Temari wanted to throttle both her sensei, and Kankuro. " _Actually, how can Baki sensei eat rather then ignoring the situation._ "

"I guess it's because he's our father, like we're our brother."

Temari flinched on the inside, and looked away. " _Good grief. How come it had to be Gaara to point out the obvious on this one. If we're willing to give Gaara a second chance, then we should give that person a chance. Except, we're not ever going to get to._ " Her eyes watched the water from the storm continue to pour down the windowpane. " _Is this what's really upsetting me? Am I hurt that Gaara's now not going to have a chance to mend his relationship with father, not that our father was an idiot of a father?_ "

The answer was yes.

"Yeah, but..."

"I suggest not arguing with your brother, Kankuro."

Temari looked back at their sensei, and her mouth opened, but snapped shut.

"What? Because he's going to kill me? He doesn't..." Kankuro leaned back in annoyance. "He doesn't do that anymore. I doubt he ever would have."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Baki held out the plate he fixed to the red haired preteen. "You've not eaten anything yet today, have you Gaara. Actually, I wonder how long it's been since you've eaten."

Gaara reached out for the plate of food, and sat it down in his lap, but didn't start eating. A relief washed over Temari's mind. " _Oh, so sensei was reading the situation._ "

"I don't think I'm hungry." The red head looked down at the food, frowning. His eyes were still red from crying, and there was no telling what other emotional turmoil was going on.

"I get the fact you don't feel hungry, but you need to eat."

Kankuro folded his arms across his chest. His tone of voice became condescending. "Baki, I don't see how any of this, that is, our family is any of your business."

"It's my business because the council decided I am to be the legal guardian of you three." The man pushed another plate of food towards Kankuro. "Knowing you, you've likely dug into your puppets again, and have also forgotten to eat."

"What about Temari?" Gaara leaned back into his sister's arms, taking in the comfort as the sound of rain poured down outside.

"She..."

"Is a girl so likes to diet," Kankuro blurted out.

Baki glared at the puppet ninja, and shook his head. "No, she's been taking care of herself."

"Why you though?" The eldest of Temari's two brother's was two upset. "And why can't we just take care of ourselves?"

Their sensei continued to glare at Kankuro. "First, the three of you despite being ninja are minors. Second, I think certain members of the council are hoping Gaara would kill me before things were done, and they wouldn't have to deal with me."

Temari watched as the corners of Gaara's mouth twisted up slightly. "Really?"

Kankuro glared at his brother. "Gaara, that isn't funny."

"Yes it is."

A smile cracked across Baki's face. "I can see why you've found the situation amusing, Gaara. That said, I did expect to find the three of you at each others throats. I wasn't expecting this particular change. I'll ask for details later." The lights suddenly flickered, and the power went out making Temari and Kankuro let out a sigh. Their sensei chuckled. "Don't worry. The storm will end eventually, and with it imperfections will be washed away."

Temari frowned, but felt Gaara pick up his food, and begin to eat. " _Well, at least Gaara understands what sensei is saying._ "


End file.
